HarmonIX

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• Judgement Day
• Voices Going West
• Speaker for the Dead
• Boy in a Room
• Men's Laundry Song
• A Short Treatise upon the History of Filk
• Fal Morgan
• The Song of the Knife
• Hope Eyrie
• Bring Us In Good Ale - CAMRA version
• Encore: Wassaliens

"The choir performed in Weston-Super-Mare on 1st February 1997 at HarmonIX, the 9th UK Filk Convention, using the name The N'Early Music Consort for the first time. Our set was scheduled for the Saturday evening, just after the concert by Phoenix (British filkdom's premier rock-band). Conducted by Rhodri James, Dan Bennett and Valerie Housden (and Pat Silver with a fluffy duster for The Men's Laundry Song), we performed to a very appreciative audience. Our set included funny and serious songs, beginning with an arrangement of Zander Nyrond's Judgement Day, which Phoenix had just stormed through in the previous set. Our version was more - shall we say - subtle. One notable moment was when Ed Stauff (partner of American guest of honour MEW) nearly did himself an injury on hearing A Short Treatise upon the History of Filk (a.k.a. J S Bach Was A Filker). Another highlight was The Men's Laundry Song, sung by (you guessed it) the men of the choir, while Marion Beet and Kate Soley-Barton hoisted a washing-line of pink garments across the stage (here's a picture). On the whole we acquitted ourselves very well, with a year of monthly rehearsals clearly paying off. We finished our set, tired and thirsty, with a musical request for drinks."
Dan Bennett